
Class. 
Book 






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EULOGY 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



DELIVERED IN 



H 



PORTSMOUTH, N. H. 




APRIL 19, 1865. 



ADONIRAM J. PATTERSON, 



Minister f>f Hie Oniveraalist Church. 




AND AN ACCOUNT OP 



THE OBSEQUIES OBSERVED BY THE CITY. 



PORTSMOUTH : 

C W. BREWSTER & SON, PRINTERS. 

1865. 



EULOGY 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



DELIVERED IN 



PORTSMOUTH, N. H. 



APEIL 19, 1865. /M 




BY 

ADONIRAM J. PATTERSON, 

Minister of the Uui versa! 1st Church. 



PORTSMOUTH : 

C. W. BREWSTER & SON, PRINTERS. 

1865. 



Portsmouth, April 25, IE 

I. .7. Patterson: 

Dear Sir, 

We listened with much interest to the Eulogy on the himented 
President Lincoln, delivered by you, at the request of the Citj 
on the observance of the Obsequies in this city on the 10th in>t., and n 
fully request a copy for the press. 

Very truly yours, 

JOHN II. F.AILEY, 
ICHABOD GOODWIN, 
J ()X A. DEARBORN, 
C. W. BREWSTER. 
J. N. MACoMB, 
SAMUEL WECBER. 



ill . Hon. IchaboJ Cc~ . and others: 

stily 

■ -MS. 

to the piiin [pies 
I li life, 1 > I 
• : . 

A. J. PATTER! 



EULOGTY. 



Fellow Citizens: 

At this hour a Nation bows under the heaviness of a 
great sorrow. Not only here in our little sea-side city, but 
all along the Atlantic coast, in every port and home, and 
far out over the wide land, in all its hamlets and cities, 
from all its valleys and hill-sides and prairies, the voice of 
lamentation goes up to God. From every craft upon our 
rivers, from every ship and steamer in our harbors, from 
every flag-staff on land or sea, our nation's ensign floats at 
half-mast over hearts that are heavy with grief. The 
golden shores of the Pacific send an answering echo to 
the wail of our wo. East and West, North and South, sit 
down together in sackcloth, crying, " Put off thy pleasant 
robes, daughter of the land, lay aside thy beautiful gar- 
ments for the raiment of grief. For the brave hath gone 
down to the place of darkness ; the cedar is bowed in the 
dust; his leaves are perished. Let the fir tree mourn 
aloud in Elealeh ; let the cedars of Lebanon hang their 
heads in tears." 

What has befallen our land to cause this universal mourn- 
ing? Only a little week ago our hearts were all jubilant 
over the tidings of victory and promises of returning 
peace. Has the tide of battle turned against us ? Have 
the noble defenders of liberty suffered inglorious and fatal 
defeat? No! No! Still we are victorious. Still the 



same promises of peace gleam like a star before us. Only 
two days ago, news came which would once have set all 
our bells pealing in jubilee, and our guns booming forth 
their joy.* No, the cause of liberty pitted in mortal com- 
bat is still onward, still victorious. It is not for defeat or 
hopeless battle that we mourn. 

The Nation's President ; he who led us to victory : he 
who stood in the van of liberty, pointing out to a great 
people the justice of her universal dominion ; he to whom 
we looked to establish freedom everywhere within our 
borders, has been violently snatched from the arms of our 
love, and the clinging tendrils of our hopes. We mourn a 
chief; a representative man ; an embodiment of a great 
idea. We mourn one who has been the intrepid leader 
and wise counsellor in the midst of unparalleled perils. — 
We mourn a man, tender-hearted, honest, christian — one 
who, blending noble characteristics as a man, with wisdom 
of fidelity as a leader, was to our nation as a rock of 
safety. We leaned upon him. We confided in him. We 
felt that he could not be betrayed into sin, or tempted to 
swerve a hair's breadth from the straight line of fidelity 
and principle. 1 think we never knew how much we leaned 
upon him, until the mighty pillar broke and fell. Well may 
we mourn. The death of Abraham Lincoln is a great 
calamity to this country. As such we all feel it. As such 
wo should feel it, that this tragedy may have a deep and 
lasting influence upon us. We have lost the tried and the 
true, and must trust our nation's interests now to new 
hands. God grant they may be clean hands, faithful hands, 
as those have been which are folded now over a still heart 
in onr nation's Capital. 

The story of Abraham Lincoln's lite is a familiar story. 
Hut it is one that it were well for us often to rehearse, as 
an incentive and encouragement to good endeavor. 

Taking of Mobile. 



His ancestors — who were Quakers — formerly resided in 
Berks co., Pa. His grand-father, Abraham Lincoln, for 
whom lie was named, removed from Pa. to Rockingham 
co., Va. Here Thomas Lincoln, the father of him we 
mourn to-day, was born. -From Virginia the family remov- 
ed to Kentucky, about the year 1782. In 1784 the grand- 
father was murdered by the Indians. His widow and chil- 
dren, in a new and strange land, inherited from him only 
his honesty, his piety, his poverty. 

They belonged to that unfortunate class known as the 
" poor whites" in the southern states. Having no schools, 
they enjoyed none of the advantages of education. The 
father of President Lincoln never knew how to read or 
write. His mother, also a native of Virginia, had been 
taught to read but not to write. 

Our lamented President was born on the 12th of Feb., 
1809. The house in which he was born was a log cabin, 
without floor or window. There in a forest of Kentucky, 
with scarcely any of the surroundings of civilization, he 
spent his childhood years, drawing his first lessons from 
nature, his first discipline from trial and suifering. 

Though destitute of culture, and ignorant of the world, 
his father and mother were remarkably endowed by nature. 
Best of all, they were devout christians. His mother, 
especially, was a person of uncommon mental power and 
deep toned piety. The influence of her precepts and 
example was gratefully acknowledged by her honored son 
in after years. 

Feeling keenly the degrading influence of slavery upon 
the poor white people, and desiring to give his children 
the advantages of free institutions, Mr. Lincoln left his 
Kentucky home when Abraham was seven years old, and 
settled in Spencer co., Indiana. Here the child engaged 
with his father in the laborious employment of clearing a 
farm, and making a home in the wilderness; and was chiefly 
thus employed for the next ten years. 



During this period lie went to school at intervals, 
amounting in the aggregate to about one year. This was 
all the school education he ever received. He did not 
however depend upon schools or teachers for knowle 
He had a spirit within him that would not dwell in ignor- 
ance. Acquiring from his teachers the rudiments of educa- 
tion, he gained the rest by his own endeavor. All his 
spare moments were devoted to study. Sitting on a stool 
by the fire light— his father was too poor to afford him a 
lam}) or candle— he conned his lessons until the long mid- 
night hour. The first books that fell into his hands, after 
Dillworth's Spelling Book and his mother's Bible, were 
Pilgrim's Progress, ^Esop's Fables, and Weems' Life of 
Washington. These he read and re-read with all the eager- 
of a thirsty soul that quaffs a cooling fountain. He 
was especially interested in the moral lessons of the Fables, 
and derived therefrom many valuable hints which he 
carried with him through life. Perhaps his early familiar- 
ity with this volume— for he literally committed it to 
memory — laid the foundation of that facility for story - 
telling whirh distinguished him through life. For the 
character of Washington he acquired the most profound 
iration. And that charaoter stood before him, not as a 
beautiful picture to be gazed u] on and admired, but as an 
mple to be copied in all the affairs of life. 

1 luring these years, a neighboring youth who bad ac- 
quired some knowledge of penmanship, visited Ids fat] 
house, and, discovering his earnest thirst for knowledge, 
proposed t<> instruct bim in the art of writing. Th< 
'out a poor p inman, he could teach Abraham . the 

letters of the alphabet. He grasped with avidity at this 
new and Ion i 1 opportunity. " Le1 him knowhowto 

make the letters and he could master the resl himself." 
Prom thai time, wherever he might be,he was practicing 
bis oew found art. In the absence of pi d and paper, he 



wrote with a piece of chalk or coal, on boards and fences, 
and the bark of trees — anything that offered an even sur- 
face on which to draw his characters. On more than one 
occasion, from lack of better material, he wrote upon the 
ground. Here and there, in the field and by the wayside, 
might be seen in the sand the legible name of Abraham 
Lincoln. Ah, aspiring child, writing thy name in the soil 
of Indiana, write on ! Thou shalt yet engrave that name 
in characters indelible upon every State of this Union, 
upon the hearts of a great people, upon the institutions of 
thy country, upon the brightest historic page of liberty ! 

When Abraham was ten years old, a great shadow fell 
upon his home and heart. His kind, thoughtful, watchful 
mother died. When she laid her pale hand upon his head, 
and told him he must be without a mother now, and she 
wanted him to remember what she had so often told him — 
to be honest, good and true, and read the Bible, and love 
God — and then whispered a prayer that the Infinite Father 
might guard her child, and make him a good and useful 
man, he felt as though his heart would break with sor- 
row, and he inwardly resolved that, God helping him, his 
mother's dying prayer should be fulfiled. Her calm white 
form lay in that humble home shrouded for the grave. — 
The day of burial came. All the neighbors assembled to 
shed their tears of love and sympathy, for they said " it is 
not often that so good a woman as Mrs. Lincoln is laid in 
the ground." A sad procession followed the cold form 
to a grave in the woods on the hill side. There was no 
minister or sexton, chanting choir or tolling bell. A pious 
friend read the scriptures, and another made a prayer, and 
so with the voices of the forest for a requiem, they con- 
signed the precious dust to its final rest. It was a solemn 
funeral — solemn to all present, but especially solemn to the 
stricken child. Who would have dreamed, as he returned 
slowly and sadly from the grave of his mother, that when 
he should be borne to his rest, the bells would toll in more 



8 

than ten thousand steeples, and bands would play dirges in 
every city, and a whole sticken land would gather about 
his grave as the grave of a father? 

I cannot trace in detail, the experiences of this won- 
derful child, — nor need I, for his history is within the 
reach of all. At the age of 19, assisted by a son of his 
employer, he took a flat boat laden with the products of 
the inland country, to New Orleans — a distance of six- 
teen hundred miles. During the perilous and laborious 
voyage, these two young men defended themselves suc- 
cessfully against seven negroes, who came upon them at 
night for purposes of plunder. Is it not a little singular, 
that his first journey beyond the neighborly precincts of 
home, should have involved an encounter with that unfor- 
tunate people, for whose redemption from bondage he 
gave the best energies of his public life, and because of 
his fidelity to this noble purpose, has added his name to 
the glorious company of martyrs ? In conversation with 
his companion after the exploit, he said, ''They are not so 
much to blame as their masters. Slavery has robbed them 
of everything, and I suppose they think it fair play to 
take what they can get." At the age of 21, he removed 
with his father from Indiana, and settled in Macon co., 111., 
where he helped build a log house for the family home, 
and fence and improve the farm. At the age of 22, he 
hired to build a flat boat at 12 dollars per month, which, 
when completed, he took to New Orleans. On his re- 
turn his employer placed him in charge of a store and 
mill at New Salem, III. Here he acquired a knowledge of 
I lish grammar daring the intervals between waiting 
up i. n customers. All these yens were years oi % excessive 
toil, but they were also years of mental improvement. 

At the age of 23, on the breaking onl of the Black 
Hawk war, he enliBted in the service of his country, and 
to hie great surprise was chosen captain of a company pi 
volunteers, lie Berved with distinction through this war, 



and on his return was nominated for the legislature. His 
precinct gave him 277 votes, and only 7 votes against him. 

About this time he begun to study law. Being unable 
to purchase books, he borrowed them from a neighboring 
lawyer, taking them at evening, studying while other men 
slept, and returning them in the morning. On one oc- 
casion he walked to Springfield — 22 miles — to procure 
Blackstone's Commentaries, and returned the same day 
with the four volumes in his arms, reading one of them 
nearly all the way. Although he labored industriously 
with his hands for his daily bread, he advanced as rapidly 
with his studies as is common for young men who have all 
the advantages of time and teachers. He also obtained 
surveyors' instruments and books, and soon with very 
little instruction, became a skilful practical surveyor. 
" With such devotion did he employ his time in study and 
manual labor — denying himself of much that is generally 
deemed essential by young men, that he might well have 
adopted the language of Cicero, "What others give to 
public shows and entertainments, to festivity, to amuse- 
ments, nay, even to mental and physical rest, I give to 
study and philosophy. " 

In 1834, he was elected to the Legislature, and was re- 
elected for eight successive years. In 1836 he obtained a 
license to practice law, and in the following year removed 
to Springfield, Illinois. He rose rapidly to distinction in 
his profession, and soon ranked among the first lawyers of 
his State. He established one rule as a counsellor which 
might well be copied by all the members of the profession, 
and that was, to defend only what he believed to be the 
the cause of justice. If a man solicited his aid in pressing 
an unjust claim, he turned him away with the assurance 
that he could not be his tool in wickedness, and with the 
recommendation to keep the matter out of the law. When 
his principle in this particular became known, it gave him 
double power. For him to espouse a cause was almost 



10 

equivolent to gaining it. Judge and jury knew when lie 
spoke, that be spoke from the inmost convictions of his 
heart. All his dealings were characterized by such integ- 
rity as to secure to him the appellation '-honest Abraham.*' 

In 184G he was elected a representative in Congress from 
the central district of 111. Here he always gave his influ- 
i nre on the side of justice and liberty. "He voted for the 
reception of anti-slavery memorials and petitions, for a 
committee to inquire into the constitutionality of si 
in the District of Columbia, and for various resolutions 
prohibiting the institution in territory to be acquired from 
Mexico." 

Although he was well known honored and beloved in his 
own State, as a comprehensive wise and judicious states- 
man, he did not attract the attention of the Nation until 
the year 1858. Being nominated as candidate for U. S. 
Senator in opposition to Judge Douglas, he entered the 
canvass againsl that eloquent. Bhrewd and able orator and 
statesman. They canvassed the State together, speaking 
at the same place on the same day. The canvass was 
conducted with marked ability on both side-, and awakened 
universal interest. Mr. Lincoln proved himself quite equal 
in debate, to him who was the recognized leader of the 
Democratic party in Congress, and the avowed aspirant to 
the Presidential chair. There being a Democratic majority 
in the legislature, Mr.Douglas was elected; bul Mr. Lincoln 
had a majority of more than tOOO in the popular vole. 

In May I860, the Republican National Convention met 
in Chicago, and on the third ballot nominated Mr. Lincoln 

candidate for President of the United stales. This 
nomination was subsequently confirmed by the people, and 
on the Ifh of March 1861, he was inaugurated. 

In the meantime a rebellion againsl the Governmenl had 
broken oul in the Slai e States. Seven States had seceded. 
A i. rnmenl had been organized. The Flag had 

boon insulted ; armies had been organized; and the insur* 



11 

gents had committed several overt acts of war. The new 
President assumed the rein of a government already broken 
into fragments by internal discord. He immediately set 
himself about the work of restoring its marred proportions. 
He appealed to the disaffected and rebellious people, with 
all the conciliation tenderness and affection of a father to 
disobedient children. He explained to them the danger of 
the course they were pursuing, assured them that all their 
Constitutional rights should be religiously maintained, and 
urged them by every consideration of justice interest and 
honor, to return to their allegiance to the government and 
Flag of Washington. 

"My disaffected fellow countrymen" — says he in his first 
Inaugural — "think calmly and do not act rashly. In your 
hands and not mine is the momentous issue of civil war. 
The Government will not assail you; you can have no con- 
flict without being yourselves the aggressor. The laws 
are of your own framing under it, while the new adminis- 
tration has no immediate power, if it would, to change 
either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied 
hold the right side in this dispute, there is no single good 
reason for precipitate action. You have do oath registered 
in heaven to destroy this government. I shall have the 
most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. We 
are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. 
Though passion may have strained, it must not break the 
bonds' of affection. The mystic call of memory, stretching 
from every battle field and patriot grave, to every living 
heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet 
swell the cords of the Union, when touched again, as 
surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 

An able journal opposed to his election, said of this 
Inaugural — "If anything can calm the troubled waters, if 
anything can check the rapid and downward course to an- 
archy and ruin, it will be this address, so clear, so cool, so 
patriotic, so statesmanly. If to this day we had been the 



HI 

: ! 



i 



12 

opponent of Abraham Lincoln, if to tins day we had dis- 
trusted Abraham Lincoln, we would now act in faith and 
friendship to his administration, as we deem it the duty of 
every man who loves his Country, and would sustain the 
government, perpetuate the Union, and preserve our liber- 
ties, passing them unimpaired to our children and our 
children's children after us." 

You all know with what a malignant, determined, devil- 
ish spirit, the Rebels engaged in their long contemplated 
scheme to destroy the Government. You all know with 
what patience, industry and singleness of purpose, the 
President took up the work of saving it from destruction. 
They had forced upon him the terrible alternative of war. 
He accepted it, believing that some things in this world are 
worse than war, and that among these are the loss of honor, 
the sacrifice of country, the death of liberty. 

With what signal success he accomplished the task he 
had undertaken ! Let the Jubilates and Te-Deums of the 
past few weeks answer ! Let the rebel fugitives with their 
broken and scattered armies answer! Let four millions 
of free men standing upon their broken chains answer ! 
The achievements of this war will be pronounced by the 
historians the marvel of the world. They surpass the tri- 
umphs of Hannibal or Cajsar, Alexander or Napoleon. 

1 know in our haste to see our Country restored, we 
have sometimes complained at what seemed ti> us a fearful 
hesitating policy. The next generation will discover that 
what we called hesitation was wise discretion; that amid 
our 1 1 o ii j 13 and foreign complications, any other policy 
would have led to inevitable ruin. 

Nbetep has been taken hastily to be retraced at some 
unforeseen emergency. Every measure has been carefully 
considered before it was adopted as a policy of Government! 
and when adopted it has been unwaveringly followed. The 
wisdom of home traitors has been oheok-mated by superior 
wisdom. The diplomacy of foreign foes has been defl I 



13 

by a shrewder diplomacy. Had the Emancipation Procla- 
mation occurred three months earlier, the whole opposition 
part} T in the north would probably have been in arms. 
Had it been delayed three months longer, the rebels would 
doubtless have been recognized by France and England. 
Watching the current of events, and guarding our interests 
on the right hand and on the left, disregarding this lure, 
and avoiding that snare, he led us on until we had almost 
reached the goal of our endeavors, the object of our 
prayers. 

In the administration of public affairs as in all his dealings 
in private life, he observed the rules of undeviating honesty. 
Even his enemies have been constrained to acknowledge 
this. They have questioned his ability, they have denounc- 
ed his policy, but there is not a respectable man or journal 
in the new world or the old, that will question for a moment 
his incorruptible integrity. True to his convictions of 
right, faithful to the cause of liberty, upright in all his 
dealings as a man and public magistrate, his name will go 
down to posterity as "the honest President." 

That he was an able man, is evident in the fact that confi- 
dence in his ability grew in the public heart, from the day 
of his first Inauguration until the day he died. Guiding a 
great nation in the midst of perils such as nation never saw 
before, he has so directed our affairs that it were difficult 
to-day — in view of all the circumstances — to say of a single 
public measure of his, that it was untimely or unwise. 
Many of the presses and statesmen of Europe, have reluct- 
antly acknowledged, that in originality, breadth and com- 
prehensiveness of mind, he took high rank among the rulers 
of the world. 

His industry was unflagging. This was a trait of char- 
acter which had been cultivated from his childhood. He 
knew not how to be idle. He was one of the most inces- 
sant workers living. But for his great industry he never 
could have risen above the adverse surroundings of his 



14 

early life. But for the industrious habits of his whole life, 
he could not have borne the excessive labors of the last 
four years. 

He was one of the most cheerful of men. He always 
saw the bright Bide of everything. To him the darkest 
cloud had a silver lining — the darkest night some guiding 
star. When others were filled with the deepest despon- 
dency he was hopeful and happy. 

1 1 is goodness of heart knew no hounds. He never turned 
an unwilling ear from an appeal for sympathy or succor. 
The poor and the distressed found in him a helper and a 
friend. At his receptions, men and women of distinction 
■ often permitted to pass by without especial notice, but 
the maimed and the unfortunate were sure to receive a 
kindly word ami a warm pressure of the hand. Innumer- 
able incidents might be cited, where he turned from Senators 
and Governors to greet and listen to the complaint of some 
poor women or needy child. In the midst of his manifold 
labors, he was an almost daily visitor at the hospitals. 
Many a maimed soldier has received the kindly ministry oi 
his own hand and heart. Indeed the assassin took advan- 
i of his well known goodness to secure an opportunity 
to take his lift . lie caused an announcement to be m 
1I1- the President would attend the Theatre. Strangers 
were in the city who would take that opportunity to see 
the Nation's Chief. He could not 6nd it in his heart to 
disappoint them. Accordingly he went against his own 
wishes, and r< eived from the black heart thai lured him 
the missile of death, [f he erred in an official capac- 
ity, his errors sprang from the kindness ol' his heart, — he 
I on the side of mercy. He shrank from severity even 
in his dealings with his enemies. Malice found no place 
in his great honest heart. Even justice in his hand was 
tempered with mercy — bo tempered as to almost lose Its 
He clo • that last unique fnaugural, which might 

well he printed in letteri ofgold and hung in the home- oi 



15 

all Americans, — in the following language of kindness and 
forgiveness. "With malice towards none, with charity for 
all, with firmness in the right, — as God gives us to see the 
right, — let us strive to finish the work we are engaged in, 
to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall 
have borne the brunt o£ the battle, and for his widow and 
orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just 
and lasting peace among ourselves and with all Nations." 

As a husband and father he was kind, tender and true. 
God pity and comfort that beloved circle, now that he is 
so cruelly taken from them. 

He was emphatically a Christian. The Christian spirit 
was the all-pervading spirit of his life. He believed in 
the higher law, — in the Higher Lawgiver. In nearly all 
his public messages, proclamations, and papers of every 
kind, he recognized our dependence upon God as individ- 
uals and as a nation. His first morning hours were 
spent in reading the Bible and prayer. He could not go 
to his arduous duties until he had implored help from God. 
His religious faith took form in works. He lived not for 
himself but for the world. 

He was a man of the people. We all felt that we had 
a personal relation with him, different from that which has 
existed between the people and the President since the days 
of Washington. There was none of that official exaltation 
about him so often observable in men suddenly elevated to 
honorable station. Though a great nation united to re- 
elect him, and thus testify its love and confidence, there 
was no exhibition of pride or vanity on his part. He was 
glad to be loved and trusted. In his early and late 
acknowledgements to God for his mercies, he returned 
thanks for the love, confidence and co-operation of the 
people. But he did not glorify himself, or his own deeds, 
as the procurer of that love. 

Amid all his successes as the Chief Magistrate he was 
personally humble as a child. In this we see his great- 



16 

ness. It is only the weak man who is vain-glorious over 
his own achievements and position. The strong and true 
man looks upon himself only as an instrument in the hands 
of a higher power, working the will of Providence. 

What President ever before watched with such fatherly 
interest the affairs of State, — complicated as they were 
by intestine war ? Down the Potomac, and up the James, 
and far out over the field of conflict, he has journeyed 
time and again, in his anxiety for the great cause pitted 
in mortal combat. Scarcely had the rebel army left their 
capital before he entered it ; and he entered not in the 
pomp and state of a conqueror, but on foot and almost 
unattended, like a common citizen or soldier. He was one 
of the people, — our helper and leader, and we are person- 
ally bereaved. 

But the fine characteristics of his public and private life 
culminate in his love of liberty. His name will go down 
to history as the great Emancipator. A race of men 
rising up from broken chains look to him as their de- 
liverer. His name is spoken with blessings and thanks- 
giving in every slave hut in the South. No pen or pencil 
can paint in adequate colors the picture of his late visit to 
Richmond. His retinue of men, and women, and chil- 
dren, — who walked over chains ho had broken, — is more 
glorious in the eye of the Christian, than that of any king 
or conqueror on the page of history. They gathered in 
his way, shunting his name amid tears and blessings, until 
the highway was blocked by their swaying forms, and 
aoldiere had to clear a path for him to the house of the 
rebel fugitive, no went on foot from the wharf, but lie 
was luad and shouldors taller than any about him, and all 
the hungry waiting <'yes could see their deliverer. 

I think the joy he fell in that triumphant march, was 
some compensate d for the toil and Borrow of these years 

of war. !!'• was full of hope. Peace gleamed like a 



17 

star before him, and neared and brightened when he 
thought of universal liberty, — as inseparable from it. 

He had led this people out of the house of bondage and 
through the red sea of war. The weary march of four 
years through the wilderness of doubt, and disappointment, 
and treachery, and rebellious strife, was ended ; and our 
Moses, from the Pisgah of re-established law and order 
and liberty, looked over the whole land redeemed. From 
this holy height, he saw the fair fields of our inheritance 
putting on new verdure and fresh blossoms. He surveyed 
the land flowing with milk and honey, and saw its glorious 
future mirrored in beauty before him. His heart laid off 
something of its weary burdens, — as our hearts had be- 
gun to do, — and he rejoiced at the auspicious prospect. 

But he was not permitted to enter into this inheritance 
of liberty and peace, which he had secured to his grateful 
countrymen. This man it was, the brave, the faithful, the 
patriotic, the loving, the Christian President of these 
United States, who was loved and trusted as no mortal 
man was ever loved before, and who had literally won and 
conquered the hearts of the nation and the world by 
goodness and self sacrifice, who was struck down, mur- 
dered in cold blood, by a fiend in the shape of a man, 
whom he had never wronged. 

O the depravity of that heart which could thus destroy 
his life ! It could only descend to such a depth of ma- 
lignity through the school of crime which prepared the 
land for this rebellion. 

When men commit themselves to a system which is in 
itself an epitome of crime, they are prepared in process of 
timefor any act in the long catalogue of infamy. Only from 
such a wholesale system of injustice, oppression, cruelty 
and murder, as American slavery, could this rebellion 
spring. All the barbarities attending it ; the persecution 
of loyal men ; the murder of helpless women and chil- 
2 



18 

dren ; the blowing up of almshouses, and ushering without 
warning their sleeping inmates into eternity ; the starving 
of prisoners : the disregard of solemn oaths ; and finally 
this fiendish assassination, are acts in one common drama, 
which were all born and nurtured in the heart of slavery. 
■e are only the details of this one gigantic crime, — 
incidents in this great struggle between civilization and 
barbarism. President Lincoln, the great Emancipator, is 
added to the long list of martyrs to the cause of lib- 
erty. 

Just at the Nation's dawning day he has been snatched 
from us. The slave power, which we thought disarmed 
and dead, reared its defiant head for this fatal blow. It 
has filled up the measure of its iniquity. They meant it 
for evil, but we believe God will overrule even this ca- 
lamitv to the nation's good. We shall learn vigilance by 
it. We shall guard our liberties as never before. Our 
rallying cry shall be — let there be no vestige left of the 
murderous spirit of the slave power. It is not sale let 

■ in this nation. It may be we did not sufficii 
realize this truth. It may lie we would have been too 
lenient, too merciful. The burden of this crime is upon 
th*e rebels. It will be a heavy one for them to bear. 
Their privileges will be 1 and their punishment in- 

creased. We will throw our united energy into the Bcale 
of justice, and turn the balance with such tremendous 
ir that this red-handed iniquity will kick the beam in 
its dying throes. 

Abraham Lincoln is dead. Perhaps they who plotted 
the infamous assassination, ami he whose red hand executed 
the plot, thought they could by that Mow exterminate the 
principles o\ which he has been the faithful representative. 
The world Bhall see thousands of faithful men rise as from 
his ashes, fully armed for the battle not yet ended. Lib- 
erty cannol be annihilated 1>\ pistol shot. or dagger thrust. 



19 

Behind, and underneath, and round about it, are the " ever, 
lasting arms. " 

Never on this continent, shall the power which killed our 
honored President, wear again the shield of law. It may 
show its dragon teeth in covert places ; it may strike yet 
again at the unarmed champion of law, when it can strike 
in the rear and run from justice. But its existence as an 
element of the Nation is ended. From the ashes of those 
it has slain, have come the will and the power which shall 
bury it in its grave. 

When Lovejoy was murdered for his defence of the 
doctrine announced by our Declaration of Independence, 
did the dial of freedom go backward ? I tell you nay. It 
missed his clarion tongue, and diamond pen. But other 
pens and tongues took up the message and spread it broad- 
cast among the people. Many a heart vowed above his 
grave to stand like a rock against the aggression of 
slavery. 

When Charles Sumner was knocked down in the Senate 
Chamber by a bludgeon of the slave power, was liberty 
weakened by the blow? Who does not know that it 
gathered to itself increased power. Men who had been 
indifferent before to the poisonous fangs of the scorpion 
our Nation harbored in its bosom, saw the danger we were 
in, and girded themselves to overcome it. The heart of 
the liberty loving North was stirred. Its eyes were op- 
ened. Those who had been champions of liberty before 
grew more determined. The timid and half doubting saw 
their way in clearer light, and came under the banner of 
him who suffered for his faith in brotherhood — his love of 
man and God. That single act, speaking as it did of the 
barbarizing effects of slavery upon the South, added its 
thousands to the growing ranks of liberty. 

When Gov. Wise of Virginia hung John Brown, did he 
thereby hang the idea which he represented? Let the 



20 

fields of that State ploughed over and over again by the 
red share of war, answer. That State where God's image 
has been bought and sold like a beast in the market, so 
many thousand times, in the midst of the furnace of retrib- 
utive justice is being purified, and prepared to begin meekly 
a career of freedom. A million rifles flashed in the sun. 
fight, when that one weak man was disarmed — weak in 
martial strength, but invincible as an embodied principle. 
Thus has it ever been, when men have tried to fight against 
God and his righteous laws, by killing the exponents and 
representatives of those laws. 

From these parallel but inadequate examples, let us take 
heart of faith for this hour of trouble and darkness. — 
When we think of our dead Chief, we are ready to cry out 
in anguish, "Our sorrow is greater than we can bear." — 
We look around us and see none who can wear the fallen 
mantle with that singleness of purpose which has charac- 
terized the departed. But let us remember that "under- 
neath are the everlasting arms,'" and God's providence shall 
never fail to guide and help the righteous purpose. He 
will point the way for our feet, and designate our leader, 
as he did Moses and Aaron and Joshua, in those long past 
troublous times. 

As we think of the still face of our dead, stricken in the 
midst of his usefulness, cut off by violence, we shall feel a 
firmer resolve rounding itself into life, to be faithful to the 
interests which he defended. Every loyal heart in the 
land will be nerved anew to stand linn, as it recalls the 
integrity of our leader through these trying years. Presi- 
dent Lincoln shall Bpeak evermore from li] I for 

immortality, of the integrity of an honesl purpose. And 
the men of to-day shall hear the voice of his life, and the 
warning of his death, and give themselves with renewed 
fidelity to liberty and justice. Children in their cradles, 
learning from American mothers' lips the Btory ^i' his life 



21 

and its tragic close, shall grow day by day in the strength 
of virtue, which they learn to honor in the liberator and 
martyr. 

The haters of liberty crucified the son of Mary. But he 
rose to life again, and his resurrection is celebrated by the 
christian church throughout the world. By his death he 
acquired a power and influence which he could never have 
attained in life. So shall it be with our lamented dead. — 
Power shall be born of his ashes, even as a corn of wheat 
dying brings forth an hundred fold, — and the wrath of man 
be made to praise thee, God. 

It is a source of sadness that President Lincoln did not 
see the work completed he had so well begun. But let us 
not forget, that though exalted far above all the conflicts of' 
this world, he is still permitted to witness the onward 
march of truth in the land he loved so well ; and that when 
justice shall triumph, and liberty shall be established, it 
will not only cause the hearts of men to sing for gladness, 
but will add a new and exultant note to the song of all the 
martyrs of liberty,— to the song of the angels. 

Our Ship of State is on a troubled sea. The faithful 
pilot has been struck down, just as the welcome lights of 
the haven began to gleam through the darkness. 

" But courage, O my mariners! ° 
Ye shall not suffer wreck, 
While up to God the freedmen's prayers 
Are rising from your deck. 

Is not your sail, the banner 

Which God hath blessed anew, 
The angel's cross-wrought mantle, 

The red, the white, the blue? 

Its hues are all of Heaven, — 

The red of sunset's dye, 
The whiteness, of the moonlit cloud, 

The blue of morning's sky. 

'* Slightly altered to adapt it to the subject, from "SYhittier's beautiful Poern, "The 
Mantle of St. John DeMatha." 



22 



Wait cheerly then, mariners, 
For day-light and for land; 

The breath of < ; "1 is in your sail, 
Your rudder in His hand. 

Sail on, sail on, deep freighted 
With blessings and with hopes; 

The saints of old with unseen hands 
Are pulling at your ropes. 

Behind ye, holy martyrs 
Uplift the palm and crown, 

Before ye, unborn ages send 
Their benedictions down. 

Sail on ! O ship of freedom! 

God's errands never fail ! 
Sail on! through storm and darkness, 

The thunder and the hail! 

Sail on ! The morning couieth, 
Tin- port ye yet shall win! 

And all the bells of God shall ring 
The good ship bravely in!" 



PORTSMOUTH OBSERVANCE 



Ifatl) Af Irfsihnt 



&UUU AM (pUJWIUi ^ 



On Saturday forenoon, April loth, when the President's death was an- 
nounced in this city, the bells commenced tolling, and continued most of 
the day ; business was generally suspended, and the stores closed. The 
flags were immediately dropped to half-mast, and most of them draped 
with black ; public and private buildings were dressed in mourning ; and 
the great mass of our people exhibited in proper ways the great sorrow 
and deep gloom that oppressed the public mind. 

Immediately on the reception at the Navy Yard of the sad news, all 
work was suspended for five days. 

In City Council, 

At a special meeting of both Boards of the City Council, held on 
Saturday evening, April 15, the following joint resolutions were unani- 
mously adopted : 

Whereas, Our City has been plunged into sudden and deep grief by 
the murder of our beloved fellow-countryman and honored Chief Magis- 
trate, Abraham Lincoln, — 

And whereas, We desire to make a record of cur admiration for his 
distinguished public services and private virtues, — 

And whereas, We desire to give an expression of our sympathy in 
the great bereavement of our whole land, therefore be it 



24 

Resolved, That in tlio death of our President we have lost a rnler, 
who, by his uncompromising sense of justice, unshaken love of liberty, 
unyielding integrity, and unfaltering faith, has added new glory to the 
office which Washington first filled, and has endeared himself to every 
American heart. 

<lved, That we shall ever hold sacred his irreproachable example 
in public life, joining prudence with power, firmness with leniency, pa- 
triotism with humanity, wisdom with religion. 

Resolved, That we deplore the murderous assault upon the distin- 
guished Secretary of State, the Honorable William II. Si:\v.u;d, on 
whom our Nation has looked with so much confidence in his ability, 
integrity, and eminent statesmanship, and we earnestly hope tli.lt he may 
be spared to render further puhlic service to his grateful Country. 

Resolved, That with new ardor we pledge our property, our time, and 
our lives to the cause which has now laid new obligations upon us by the 
precious blood it has gained. 

Resolved, Thai in the cry for punishment which goes up all over our 
land, it shall be our effort to temper vengeance by mercy. 

Resolved, That casting ourselves on the protection and guidance of 
tli' 1 [nfinite Ruler of events, we pray that through unknown ways He may 
turn our loss into gain, and at this Bacred season of the Christian 
that we may give back to Him the sonls of the departed in the faith of 
him who is " the Resurrection and the life. " 

It was further 

Resolved, That the City Rooms be draped in mourning, ami that the 
members of the City Council wear crape on the left arm for thirty days. 

Resolved, Thai the City Council will take measures in relation te the 
proper observance of the day 6xed upon for the funeral of the lit.- Presi- 
dent of the United Stab s, ami that a Joint ' Committee be appointed for 
the purpose of arranging a suitable demonstration on the part of the City 
( rovernment on that occasion. 

In Board of A b resolution was passed requesting the Mayor to 

• ■all a Public Meeting of the citizens on Monday morning, at in o'clock, 
to express the feelings of the citizens of Portsmouth in relation to the 
I Dational I nt 

On Sunday, no bells were rung in the city. The lorij tolling bn this 
and other days, with the Bound of the guns at everj ball hour a' the 

pn sion to the public feeling. The Churches 
all draped in mourning, ami the services were adapted !<• the occasio 



25 



Citizens 7 Jfleeling. 

The Public Meeting of the citizens of Portsmouth, called by the 
Mayor, was held Monday forenoon, April 17, on Market Square, 'where a 
large assembly convened. 

A stand was erected in front of the Atheneum, and very tastefully 
draped with mourning emblems — black and white festoons below, with a 
portrait of Mr. Lincoln, surmounted by a shield above, and the mottoes, 
"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away," and "We mourn our 
beloved and honored Chief Magistrate, Abraham Lincoln." 

Ex-Gov. Goodwin presided, and made the opening Address, well ex- 
pressing the deep feeling which pervaded the audience. Prayer was then 
offered by Rev. Mr. Adams ; followed with fine singing by a select choir. 
Rev. Mr. DeNormandie read a selection from the Scriptures. Resolutions 
expressing the sense of the meeting were presented and read by Alfred 
W. Haven, Esq., who made a speech in their support; at the close of 
which these resolutions were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, We the citizer-.s of Portsmouth, under the affliction which 
has fallen upon our country in the assassination of the great and good man 
who presided over the councils of the nation, have this day assembled at 
the call of our municipal authorities, therefore be it by us 

Resolved, That it having pleased Almighty God, in the hour of victory 
to take away from us the President of the United States, and thus change 
the day of rejoicing to one of mourning, we bow in submission to his 
divine Providence who doeth all things well. 

Resolved, We believe that though men die, principles are immortal, 
and we hereby tender to our National Government, and especially to him 
who is now our chief magistrate, for the future as for the past, our most 
hearty, cordial and earnest support, pledging as our fathers did, life, for- 
tune and honor in its defence, until the flag which has protected us from 
our birth shall float over every section of our beloved country. 

Resolved, That in the terrible calamity which has overtaken us, we 
t*ecognize the cause which has produced the present unholy rebellion, and 
trace it to the. barbarism of Slavery. 

Resolved, That our united sympathy is felt for the family of our late 
President, and our prayer is that they may find that consolation which 
God only can give. 



26 

Resolved, That we fully recognize the eminent services of William II. 
SEWAED, Secretary of State, and earnestly pray that he may soon recover 
from the effects of the atrocious attempt to assassinate him. 

Resolved, That by every means in our power the rebellion shall be 
crushed, whether skulking in our midst or defiant on our borders ; and the 
great truth which our fathers proclaimed that "all men are born free and 
equal," 1 shall be forever maintained. 

Speeches were also made by liev. Messrs. Waterhouse, Canovan, Lane 
and Patterson, expressive of the Nation's grief at the loss of an honest, 
virtuous and able Chief Magistrate, its indignation at the authors of the 
murder, and determination to crush the nest out of which such a hrood of 
vipers has been hatched. 

The speeches were followed by two verses of the hymn set to America, 
sung in that tune by the assembly, which was then dismissed with the 
benediction, pronounced by Rev. Mr. DcXormuudie. 

The services were interspersed with solemn music by the Portsmouth 
Cornet Band. The stores were closed, and business generally suspended. 



27 



The Obsequies in JPorismoulh. 

Wednesday, April 19th, was a day ever to be remembered by those 
who participated in the sorrowful ceremonies which depicted the most 
heartfelt grief at the loss of honored, beloved Abraham Lincoln. The day 
was pleasant, and, but for wind and dust, was very favorable for the 
grand pageant. In this city the houses and stores were to a great extent 
trimmed with the adornments of sorrow. A general quietness prevailed, 
as if to say, — 

"These, indeed, sezm. 
For they are actions that a man might play: 
But there is that within which passeth show ; 
These but the trappings and the suits uf woe'." 

The observance was more general than has marked any occasion in our 
record. The City Government spared no pains in completing the arrange- 
ments, which every one seemed disposed to unite in carrying out without 
a shadow of party feeling. 

THE FUNERAL PROCESSION. 
The order of the procession was as follows : 

The Chief Marshal was Capt. Robert Lefavour, with Capt. Daniel Hall 
and Col. Samuel Webber, as mounted Assistants ; and Col. John H. 
Jackson, A. J. Hill, W, O. Sides, A. J. Beck, C. C. Jackson and James 
A. Blaisdell as Aids, on foot. 

Company C, of the Governor's Horse Guards, Capt. M. Eldredge, per- 
formed escort duty, and were out with full ranks. 

Then came the Portsmouth Cornet Band, eloquently discoursing mourn- 
ful music. 

The military escort of the 1st division was composed of Companies 
from the Forts and the Navy Yard, the whole being under command of 
Col. Jones, of the Marine Barracks. The Companies from Forts McClary 
and Constitution, under command of Capt. Wells, looked finely, as did 
also the Company of Marines, under the command of 1st Lieut. Henry 
J. Bishop. 

Then came the members of both boards of the City Council, other 
City Officers, ex-Mayors of Portsmouth, etc. 

Immediately following these was the elegant Funeral Car, which had 
been designed in the most appropriate and tasteful manner under the 
direction of Mr. J. H. Head. 



28 

The Car was of the monumental order. The basement, 14 'J ft. in length 
and one foot high, was covered with black lama cloth and rested on four 
massive wheels, outside of which were heavy festoons of black mozambique 
ornamented with rosettes of crape ; the festoons swept nearly to the ground- 
The basement was box-plated and ornamented at the top with a band 
studded with rich silver plated diamonds and stars. 

The body of the Car was 11 feet long, 4^ fret wide and 6 feet high. 
Its sides and back were covered with black chambra. In the centre of 
the sides and end were raised pannels, on the face of which were ruffs 
formed cf lyonese cloth. On the centre of the side ruffa was the name of 
LINCOLN in silver letters; the pannel was bordered with a moulding of 
black crape intersected with heavy rosettes, those at the corners studded 
with square glass buttons. The rear pannel represented a door to tin' 
car, and was ornamented with a black nob and a large gilt star draped in 
crape. The body was ornamented with a heavy cornice covered with black 
velvety enriched with crape rosettes, while curtains of lama cloth descend- 
ed below. From the corners of the cornice dropped silken tassels ; at the 
four corners of the body of the car, and seemingly to support the cornice, 
were placed masses of velvet to represent fluted columns, with bases of 
black lace. The roof was gambrel shaped and covered with black cam- 
bric. From centre and sides of the roof rose six heavy black and white 
plumes two feet high. The front of the car was hung with festoons of 
black crape, and ornamented with an American Shield draped in crape. 
The driver's se;it and dasher weie decorated witn heavy black tassels and 
rosctles. black horses, ornamented with black plumes and rosettes, 
drew the car, and each horse had a groom dressed in mourning costume. 

The Pall-Bearers were Wm. 11. V. Hackett, Win. M.Shackford, Jona. 
Dearborn, Wm. Simes, Joseph B. Upham, Wm. L. D wight, James F. 
Shores, and Ichabod Rollins. The two latter were in the funeral proces- 
sion of "Washington, 65 years a^ro. 

Next followed the city Clergy in carriages; Officers of the Army and 
Navy in uniform, in good number, among whom were Hear Admiral 
. Bailey, Capt. Goldsborough, and Chief Engineer^ Bartleman, of tin- Navy 
Yard, which, with a number oi <i\il Officers of the United Stal Gov- 
ernment* completed the first division. 

The second division was led by tie' Band from Fori Constitute n, follow- 
ing which were the Knights Templar, St. Andrew's Lodge of Free Masons, 
(HenryG. Tanton, W. M.,) and St. John's Lodge, (Benj. F.Webster, 
W. M. ;) the Piscataqua and New-Hampshire Lodges of Odd Fellows j 
together with Strawberry-Bank Encampment, (-1. N. Wilson, C. P.) 



29 

Then Portsmouth Division Sons of Temperance, Meshach Bell, Mar 
shal; Sagamore Steam Fire Engine Company, No. 2, Hiram C. Locke, 
Foreman ; Granite State Engine Company No. 1 ; Garabaldi Hook and 
Ladder Co., Atlantic, No. 6, all under the lead of Chief Engineer John 
H. Moran. 

The third division (with Christy's Minstrels' Band, volunteered, for 
music,) was escorted by the High School Cadets, — a neat Company of 
about one hundred boys, in uniform gray dresses, under the direction of 
their teachers. 

Carriage containing the constructors of the Funeral Car. 

Following these was a car containing disabled veterans ; private citizens 
in carriages, and a large number of our citizens on foot, together with 
delegations from Kittery, New Castle and surrounding towns, under their 
respective Marshals. 

An interesting feature of the procession was the car containing maimed 
soldiers and sailors, the names of whom we give as a matter of record : — 
Henry C. and Robert E. Rich, brothers, each of whom lost the left leg at 
about the same time, although hundreds of miles apart — Robert being in 
the Army of the Potomac as a 'soldier, and Henry a sailor in the West 
Gulf Blockading Squadron ; James McKnight, Edmund Whalley, Wash- 
ington Sweat, Daniel Hatch, each of whom has lost a leg ; John Perkins, 
lost left arm; Henry Palmer, Wm. Lolley, C. Dwight Hanscom, John 
Dooley, Patrick Sullivan, James Burnham, and Robert C. Ransom. 

The procession started promptly on time, from Market-Square, through 
Market, Deer, Vaughan, Congress, Islington, Cabot, Middle, Court, 
Pleasant, Washington, State, Mulberry, Congress-streets back to Market- 
Square. The Procession was about half a mile in length, extending from 
Vaughan to Cabot-street, and probably numbered between 1200 and 1400. 

SERVICES ON MARKET-SQUARE. 

At the services on Market-Square Mayor Bailey presided, and an au- 
ditory of not far from 3000 stood quietly during the whole of the following 
service, and generally as still as if within the walls of a church. 

Prayer by Rev. Mr. DeNormandie. 

Singing, Original Requiem, by Albert Laighton. 

Toll, oh death-bells, sad and slow ; 

Muffled drums, your dirges play ; 
Freedom's Martyr lieth low, — 

And a Nation weeps to-day. 



30 



Silent be the bu6y mart ; 

Midway droop, oh flags, in air, 
While the ' IdUnl i \ 's ble< di ig heart 

Bobs its bitter gi ief in prayer. 

Go I of Nations ! as our tears 

In this hour of darkness flow, — 
Hush <>ur murmurings, calm our fears; 

Lift the crushing w< ij 

Li us feel thine arms beneath, 

i ih. Thou Holy ( Ine an ! Just ; 
Teach our trembling lips to breathe, 

" In the Lord we put our trust." 

Reading of Scriptures, by Rev. Mr. Daviea. 

Singing, Original Funeral Hymn, by Edward P. Nowell. 

dii. what a ghastly, bleeding wound 
The Nati i this day ! 

Throughout the land is heard no sound, 
iw's dirge ol deep disi 

Mosl hon red ( Ihief ! We mourn his loss 
Far more than anguished heart ran toll ; 

bow beneath the cumbrous crosss 
rjpborne for him we loved sq well ! 

His wisdom, truth, fidelity, 

Rejoici d us with his just renown : 
Woe, woe ! that man so base should be, 

As dastardly to strike him down ! 

True Freedom's Martyr ! tears of grief 

In floods from sorrow's clouds outpour, 
Bedewing joy's rich harvest-sl i 
ife within fruition s 6b 

Will bitti sed? 

( 'an joy relume oar heai ts ag dn ? 
Shall Bighs control the harrowed breast? 

Must pleasure be usurped by p 

Almighty Father ! Thou our trust ! 

We ever in Thy grai 
Dear Saviour I raise us from the dust, 

i he il our ■. 

Eulogy by Rev. Mr. Patterson. 

Singing — " America. " 

At the close of the services, al 8 P. M. three volleys were fired by the 
military, and the whole dismissed with a Bi i by Rev.Mr.Holman. 






